1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to techniques for producing music, and, in particular, to polyphonic electronic musical instruments and related systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Musical instrument designs range from conventional instruments played by hand, such as a violin or electric guitar, to pre-programmed instruments, such as player pianos, to programmable instruments such as keyboard synthesizers. The level of skill required to produce music with non-programmed hand instruments may be very high and requires a substantial investment of time and effort, while the quality of the music produced by pre-programmed or programmable instruments often lacks some of the human individuality that makes music so pleasurable.
What are needed are techniques for producing music which retain more of the human individuality of non-programmed instruments while reducing the level of skill and investment needed to produce, or re-produce, music which retains a high level of the human individuality qualities of music produced with more conventional instruments.